


Wimping Out

by chordmaj7



Category: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series - Jeff Kinney, Inside Out (2015)
Genre: Autism, Autism Spectrum, Autistic OC, Autistic Rowley, Canon Autistic Character, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gay, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Female Character, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Multi, Other, Polyamory, Randomness, Teenage Drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 18,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27118135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chordmaj7/pseuds/chordmaj7
Summary: 15-year-old Riley has to move to a new town, where's she'll meet Greg, Rowley and Mary, and her life will change completely. In this crossover story that you never knew you needed, you'll see these four teens on the path of friendship and love, with their parents having completely lost it.
Relationships: Greg Heffley/Holly Hills, Greg Heffley/Original Female Character(s), Greg Heffley/Original Male Character(s), Greg Heffley/Rowley Jefferson, Holly Hills/Patty Farrell, Riley Andersen/Original Female Character(s), Rowley Jefferson/Riley Andersen
Comments: 9
Kudos: 3





	1. A new, new start?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you know that this is a repost, because I originally posted this story on Wattpad. 
> 
> The Wattpad version is exactly the same, but it has an extra chapter in the beginning that shows pictures of how the characters look like. If you want to see, so you can visualize them in your head, you can find it there.
> 
> The link: https://my.w.tt/GEimwd9CJab
> 
> Also, before I translated it into English, the original version was in Greek.
> 
> Here's the link to the Greek version: https://my.w.tt/kG6tYlkDJab
> 
> This story is still ongoing, I'm still working new chapters as we speak. I REALLY need some feedback to keep me motivated to write more, so please consider leaving a comment! Constructive criticism is much appreciated.
> 
> This story is a piece of me and I hope you guys enjoy this experience into my world. Please comment if you can!

Riley Andersen was 15 years old and she had been living in San Francisco for about four years. She moved there after living in Minnesota for her whole life up to that point. It was really hard for her to accept that change in her life, but she managed to do it.

Riley was video chatting with her best friend Meg from Minnesota.

"I'm telling you, I don't know why I was so worried when I first came here! San Francisco is a great place!"

"I'm very glad, Riley. For real, in the beginning you were a mess about this, but in the end you handled it perfectly."

"Thank you, Meg! You should know that I've missed you a lot!"

"I've missed you too! So you have to hear what happened today! I was with Bryan and he suddenly started talking about–"

"Riley, come downstairs, we need to talk!", said Jill, Riley's mom.

"I'm coming! Sorry Meg but my parents are calling me, I'm leaving the call open so you can tell me about it later."

Riley went downstairs and saw her parents with a serious look on their faces. She became a little worried.

"Riley..."

"Yeah, mom?"

"We're moving..."

"What?! Why are we moving again?"

"Your father found an amazing opportunity."

"What kind of opportunity, dad?"

"So Riley, I was invited to join a band named the Villagerz.", said Bill, Riley's dad.

"Okay, but... Where will we need to go?"

"To a town named Plainview in Maryland."

"What?! That's like in the other side of the country!"

"We know, but it needs to be done. We're leaving tomorrow, Riley."

Riley went upstairs to her room with tears in her eyes.

"Riley?! Riley what happened, why are you crying?"

"Meg I can't believe what's happening to me... We're moving again!"

Riley explained everything about the moving. The second moving, that is.

"Okay cheer up Riley, you've made it once, and I'm sure that you will make it again. Believe in yourself."

"Maybe you're right... Thank you."

After a while, Riley started packing her things, before laying in her bed to rest. She didn't get much sleep because she was thinking about everything that was waiting for her to experience in Plainview.

The next day, after a long trip, Riley and her parents arrived at their new house in Plainview. The first thing that Riley noticed was that this new house was way cleaner than the one in San Francisco. She went to her new room and discovered that it was very beautifully decorated, which comforted her a bit. So far everything was going okay. As long as they weren't putting broccoli on pizza in this place as well.

The next day, Riley went to her new school. Riley always had a hard time making friends, and that's why she was really worried. But her worries didn't manage to last long, because she was approached by a group of three kids.

"Hello!"

"Hi..."

"What's your name?"

"Riley..."

"Oh nice! I'm Mary!"

"I'm Greg"

"And I'm Rowley!"

"I'm really glad to meet you guys. What grade are you in?"

"9th."

"Oh, me too! That means we'll be classmates!"

"Yeah! Do you want to sit next to me?", asked Mary.

"I'd love to!"

Mary Black was a really special girl who came from a filthy rich family with undescribable power and history that went back many years

She was really pressured by her parents, but had a heart made of gold, and a talent in music. She also happened to be autistic, like her friend Rowley Jefferson, who she had known since they both remembered themselves. The Jeffersons had been really close friends of the Blacks since the past, and they were rich too, though it was nothing compared to the Blacks. Mary and Rowley pretty much grew up together and were something like siblings. 

The same thing happened every day, the kids played in Mary's room, while Mary's dad, William, ate squid with Rowley's dad, Robert. And at the same time, Mary's mom, Elinor, painted her nails with Rowley's mom, Linda.

When Rowley was 9 years old, his family had to move to Plainview, and since the Blacks would never be able to handle that seperation, they moved with them in the same neighborhood.

That's where Mary and Rowley met Greg Heffley, who soon joined them. Mary always kinda had a crush on Greg. She never said anything to him about it though, because she didn't want to make things in the group awkward. The past summer, Greg was dating this girl named Holly Hills, who Mary never took a liking to. Luckily for Mary, Holly had to move away, so she and Greg broke up only two months into their relationship.

The bell rang, and the kids went in their classroom. Riley sat next to Mary, and behind them were Greg with Rowley.

The teacher went into the classroom and made Riley introduce herself to the other kids and talk a bit about herself, but she burst into tears again. The teacher told her that she shouldn't be ashamed about her outburst, because it's very hard for someone to move, not only once, but twice. But to sit down now because the lesson was starting.

Around the end of the period, something unexpected happened. The teacher was transformed into a chicken and started running in circles in despair. She was trying to speak, but all that people could hear were the sounds of a chicken that went crazy.

Almost all the kids, including Riley, were just staring in confusion.Only Rowley was laughing on his own. That grabbed Riley's attention, who turned to look at him. He was... cute? Rowley looked back at her, and Riley blushed a bit and immediately stopped staring.

When the school day was over, Riley said goodbye to her new friends, and grabbed her things and headed off to home. While walking in the hallway though, she saw a group of kids coming her way. 

"Hey, new girl, where do you think you're going?"

"Uh... home?"

"I don't think so."

The kids grabbed her bag and tossed it around.

"Give it back!"

Then they tossed it in the other side of the hallway and Riley rushed to get it, and then went home and started crying.


	2. The Date

Riley's dad, Bill, entered the house. He was overjoyed because of his new band and the talent show that was about to take place in a few months.

His band, the Villagerz, were already preparing for that. Bill thought that his band was great and that they could win whatever contest they wanted. 

However his wife Jill, had doubts about that, because the band was brand new, and they needed a lot of practice to be considered as great as Bill said. But nothing could burst Bill's bubble.

Bill entered Riley's room to ask about her day, but he saw her crying.

"What's wrong, Riley?"

"I want to go back, dad..."

"Little monkey... You know that can't happen... We've already started rehearsals with the band and it's going great... You have to understand..."

"I understand..."

Her dad hugged her and then he left the room.

Later, her best friend Meg video called her and started asking her about her first day in Plainview, starting with the most important thing for her.

"So Riley, have you seen any boy that you liked yet?"

"Seriously Meg? That's the first thing you ask me?", said Riley and laughed.

"Of course! Tell me!"

"Okay, yeah, I have..."

"Tell me everything, gurl!"

Meg is obsessed with boys. However, she has never managed to get a boyfriend herself.

Before she even let Riley talk about the boy she liked, Meg interrupted her and started telling her about her 13rd crush this week.

After all that boy talk, Meg asked Riley if she generally had fun today.

"Not really... Some kids came up to me and tossed my bag around..."

"No..."

"Yeah... I just hope nothing similar happens to me tomorrow because I'm not in the mood."

"Yeah I hope that too, Riley."

Meanwhile, Greg and Rowley were in Greg's room talking.

"Rowley I don't know if you've noticed but you keep talking about Riley! You like her, huh?"

"No!"

Greg smirked at him.

"Fine maybe! She's cute, okay?"

"I knew it! Ask her out!"

"You think I should? What if she says no?"

"Like she's gonna say no! I saw her looking at you all the time!"

"I'll do it!"

"There you go!"

The next day, Riley went to school. While she was walking towards her classroom, she was once again approached by the group of kids that messed with her the day before. A guy took her bag again and the kids tossed the bag to each other. Riley got really mad and managed to impose herself and take her bag back. 

During the lesson, a little piece of paper fell on her desk. She took it and read it.

"Riley, do you want to go out with me after school? - Rowley"

Riley couldn't believe it! Of course she wanted to. She wrote something on the paper and gave it back to him and he read it.

"Yes, I do! Meet me at the school entrance after school ends. - Riley"

During the break, Riley was secretly on her phone sending messages to Meg and told her everything. Meg sent her a voice message so Riley went to the bathroom to listen to it.

However, she forgot to adjust the volume, so it blasted out Meg singing a little song saying "Riley's first date! Riley's first date!"

She quickly turned the volume down but every girl that was in the bathroom at the moment had heard it, and when Riley came out they were staring, but she left like nothing had happened. 

Mary was reading something in the library, so Greg and Rowley were alone together in the classroom.

"So we're going out after school!"

"Rowley's first date! Rowley's first date!", sang Greg.

"Oh come on!", said Rowley while blushing and burying his face with his hands.

"After the date, come over to my house to tell me everything, okay?"

"Okay I will!"

After school, Riley was waiting for Rowley at the school entrance. Later she saw him and waved at him, and he waved back. They started walking together and talking.

"You said you moved here from San Francisco?"

"Yeah. I lived there for four years and before that, I lived in Minnesota.

"How come you moved again?"

"My dad found an opportunity in a band here or whatever. I haven't been too concerned about that to be honest. But he says it's going great." 

"That's good."

Later, the conversation somehow moved to singers.

"Do you know Joshie?", asked Rowley.

"Is he the guy that says respect your parents and follow your dreams?"

"Yeah that's him!"

"My best friend listens to him. But I've never listened to his songs."

"Listen to them, they're amazing!"

"Okay, I will."

A little time passed and it was obvious that neither of the was brave enough to make any move. That was, until Riley held his hand. When they had to go, Riley embraced him and then kissed him. They both blushed.

"Rowley, I really like you... Do you want to be my boyfriend?"

"Yes, I do!"

"Great...", she said and kissed him again, "see you tomorrow!"

Riley went home smiling.

"Hey Riley, where were you?", her mom asked.

"With a friend!"

"Oh, don't worry, this time I won't make assumptions like the last time, I know you guys were studying and not out on a date! What lesson were you studying?"

"It was a date."

"Ah... AAAAAA!!!"

Riley laughed nervously and went upstairs in her room and video called Meg and started telling her everything.

"HE LISTENS TO JOSHIE?! MARRY HIM!!!"

"Yeah, but that's not the biggest thing listen to what happened next!"

"I'm listening!"

She told her everything that happened and then hanged up and put on Joshie out of curiosity. She found a song named "Joshie Says" and when she listened to it she found it dumb. But then she played it again... and again... and it ended up stuck in her head. She was singing it for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile, Rowley was at Greg's house to tell him everything, just like they had agreed.

"And then she held my hand and... I can't describe it with words."

"Show me then."

"Well, she held my hand like this..."

Rowley held Greg's hand to show him, and Greg felt really nice for a reason he couldn't explain.

"...and then she embraced me and brought her face near mine..."

Rowley does that.

"A-And then?"

In that moment, Greg's dad Frank enters the room.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

The two boys quickly moved away from each other.

"Mr. Heffley please don't jump to conclusions! I was just showing him something!"

"Is that true, Greg?"

"Yes! Dad please don't think stuff!"

"Hmm... okay fine I'll believe you. But I better not find out that something like that is happening!"

"It's not!"

Frank left with suspicions and Greg was very upset. Rowley just wanted to show him what happened with his new girlfriend, he didn't have any intention to do... the thing Frank thought was about to happen. But the weird thing was that Greg felt like he wanted it to happen.

"I should probably go..."

"Okay... See you tomorrow."


	3. Someone's Jealous?

The next day at school, Rowley and Riley were constantly together. During the lesson, they had a piece of paper they wrote stuff on and exchanged it, but they tried to pay attention to the lesson at the same time.

That was, until the teacher noticed it. This certain teacher wouldn't take any of this in her class, so she took the paper and started reading it out loud for everyone to hear.

"I would still love you even if Joshie said not to!"

This made the boys laugh, while the girls liked it and acted like crazy.

"Hearts, hearts, hearts... Smiling face..."

Rowley and Riley were looking at each other, blushing and smiling. Greg broke a pencil in two.

"This is cute kids but not during class, okay?"

"Okay Mrs. Volvo!"

The lesson continued, until Mrs. Volvo suddenly turned into a car. More specifically a Volvo. Everyone was about to get up and leave.

"No, kids! Don't think that this is a chance to get away from the lesson!"

Mrs. Volvo tried to grab the marker with her hood to write on the whiteboard.  
Though at her attempt to do so, she hit her desk with her trunk and smashed it.

Everyone got up and left.

"KIDS!!!"

Mrs. Volvo was hitting herself where the door is.

"Wait! I can't fit through the door to chase you!!!"

Everyone went to the school cafeteria. Usually, Greg, Mary and Rowley sat in a small table in a corner of the room. Now Riley sat with them too, since she was Rowley's girlfriend. 

"Riley, let's go get lunch!", said Rowley.

"Yeah, let's go!"

"We'll be right back, guys!"

Rowley and Riley left for a while.  
  
"Mary... I will tell you this. I can't stand them acting like that all the time."

"Come on Greg, they're in love and want to show it! You would want to do the same."

"Maybe... I don't know."

Rowley and Riley went back and sat with them. Greg changed the subject so they won't know that they were just talking about them.

"Guys, do we know what's up with the teachers? Why are they transforming?"

"I have no idea.", answered Rowley, "but it's funny!"

"True."

"We have a lesson with the car again later, right?"

"Yeah."

Later, the bell rang and they went in the class where the car was again. They sat down like nothing odd was happening, expecting no lesson to happen, because a car would never be able to teach.

"We'll have a normal lesson!"

Mrs. Volvo was desperately trying to write on the board, until she saw Greg writing in his diary instead of looking at her. She got really mad. She couldn't stand her students not paying attention to her. She drove towards Greg and used her tire to grab his diary.

"No! Give it back! It's personal!"

Greg was trying to get it back but she was holding him back with her other tire. She started reading out loud...

"I can't deny it any longer, there's not any other explanation for what is happening to me. I never expected to say this, but I'm in love with–"

Greg managed to get it back in time, but it fell down. He picked it up and held it tight.

"You don't have the right to do that!"

He immediately ran out of class and went somewhere alone. What he didn't know, though, was that Rowley had followed him.

"Greg?"

"Yeah, Rowley?"

"I think I understood everything..."

"Really?"

"Yeah..."

"Look I would tell you at some point..."

"And why didn't you?"

"I was scared... We're friends for how many years now... And you're with Riley..."

"What does that have to do with this?"

"I would put you in a tough situation and I didn't want that."

"What do me and Riley have to do with you and Mary?"

"M-Mary?"

"Yeah! I've had suspicions that you like her!"

"Yes of course! I like Mary!"

"I knew it! Look Greg, you helped me with Riley and I want to do the same for you."

"You really don't have to–"

"Come on Greg I want to help you for real!"

"Okay thank you!"

Rowley hugged him, and so did Greg, only tighter.

"You can let go now, Greg..."

Greg kept hugging him, and was smiling.

"Greg..."

"Oh sorry! I overdid it..."

"It's cool. You must be really happy that I'm helping you."

"Yeah, yeah!"

They went back in the classroom where the car was crying at this point because she thought that she wouldn't get paid if she didn't manage to write on the board.

Greg and Rowley were whispering.

"Look Greg, after school me and my parents will go to Mary's house so I will try to bring up the topic somehow."

"Okay, thank you."

"You're welcome. Let's stop now though because Mrs. Volvo will get mad that we're not looking at her, despite her just crying."

"Okay."

Everyone were just looking at a car crying until the period ended.

After school, the Jeffersons went to the Blacks' house. William already had the squid ready for him and Robert, and Elinor had the nail polish ready for her and Linda. Mary and Rowley went in Mary's room.

Rowley tried to subtly bring up the topic, but wasn't all that good at it.

"I'm having such a great time with Riley... Would you like... To have a great time with someone too?"

"Yeah, I guess, why are you asking?"

"No reason... Would you like that someone to be sorta like Greg, or different?"

"Uhh...", Mary blushed a bit, "Like him I guess... Are you trying to tell me something?"

"No!"

"Look I will tell you something that I've never told anyone before... For a long time now, I have a crush on Greg..."

"Really?! That's great!"

"Why are you saying that? You know something!"

"Maybe..."

"He likes me back?!"

Rowley nodded.

"Yes!!!"

Mary was so happy that hugged him tight.

"What's wrong with everyone today?!"

Mary now knew what she had to do, but she would wait until tomorrow.


	4. Double Date

The next day, Mary was at school and was waiting to see Greg. Then she saw him with Rowley and approached him.

"Hey Greg, can we talk for a bit? Just the two of us?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Greg and Mary walked away to talk a bit.

"Greg, I want to ask you something..."

"What is it?"

"Do you want to be my boyfriend?"

Greg wanted to tell Mary the truth, but further behind Mary was Rowley who was doing thumbs up and other gestures to encourage Greg, so he couldn't do it.

"Yeah, I do."

"Perfect!"

Mary kissed him. She had wanted to do that for years. Then she held his hand and they went towards Rowley.

"I think we don't need to announce it to you, you saw us anyways.", said Greg.

"Yes! Congrats guys!"

"Thank you! And it's all thanks to you!", said Mary. 

Later, Riley came and greeted them and kissed Rowley. Then she noticed that Greg and Mary were holding hands.

"Are you two..."

"Yeah, we're together!"

"Congrats, I'm so glad!"

"Thank you!"

"What if the four of us went on a double date?, asked Mary.

"Yes!", replied Rowley, "but where?"

"And when?", asked Riley.

"Tonight, at the most fancy restaurant in town. It's all on me.", answered Mary.

"Nice!", said Riley.

"Greg? Do you like the idea?", asked Mary.

"Yeah, sounds great!", answered Greg.

"Nice! Riley, would you like to come to my house so we can go find the guys together?"

"Good idea!", answered Riley.

"Greg, Rowley, do it too!"

"Okay! Greg you can come to my house."

"Oh okay then I will."

The bell rang, and the kids were about to get in the school, but Mrs. Volvo was blocking the door. She had the most miserable look on her face that they had ever seen. A man had her on a... leash? He looked at her strictly and said...

"What do you have to say to the student who's diary you read in class?"

"Sorry student who's diary I read in class..."

"And what do you have to say to the two kids who's conversations you read out loud?"

"I'm sorry two kids who's conversations I read out loud..."

"Good girl."

The man caressed her hood and then took her away with the leash.

The kids were very confused, but not too concerned. They went in class. Nothing remarkable happened in the rest of the school day, no one transformed into anything.

After school, the four kids went home to get ready. They had to dress really formally to go to that restaurant. After they got ready, Riley went to Mary's house, and Greg went to Rowley's house.

Mary and Riley were in Mary's room.

"Wow Riley, you look beautiful!"

"So do you!"

They were sitting there talking waiting for the time for them to go find the guys.

"So... how is it with you and Rowley?"

"Wonderful! You with Greg?"

"Actually we just became a couple today so I can't know yet... But I'm sure that it will be great."

"I hope so."

Riley was amazed at Mary's house, because it was the biggest one she had ever seen. Mary, on the other hand, was amazed at Riley herself. She found her so sweet and pretty. It was just admiration, or at least that's what she hoped it was. Because there was no way she liked Riley, because it was just simply impossible for her to like Rowley's girlfriend. Right?

Meanwhile, Greg and Rowley were at Rowley's room and were wearing formal clothes too.

"Greg I can't tie my tie, can you help me?"

"Yeah, of course."

He helped him, but really messed it up because the entire time he was fantasizing about pulling his tie and kissing him. He decided he couldn't deal with this anymore. The way things were, he had to start enjoying the fact that he's with Mary and forget about Rowley.

"Okay can we go now?", asked Greg.

"Isn't it too soon?"

"No we're late let's go!"

They went to meet the girls. Riley walked towards Rowley and started fixing his tie because Greg had messed it up. When she fixed it, she used it to pull him close and kissed him.

"She stole my fantasy!", thought Greg but then remembered that he's supposed not to like Rowley anymore and be with Mary.

Greg immediately went and kissed Mary but anyone could tell that he was trying too hard.

"Are you okay, Greg?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!"

"Let's go, then?"

"Let's go!"

They went into the restaurant and asked for a table for four, but they were told that they should have made a reservation months ago. So they had to go somewhere else.

They couldn't go in the most places they thought of, because they would stain their clothes. So they just went back and walked around their neighborhood, while getting weird looks for their formal clothing.

At night, after the date, Greg was talking with Rowley on the phone.

"Everything okay, Greg?"

"Yeah I was just thinking..."

"About what?"

"I can't tell you..."

"But why? You can tell me anything."

"Wait a minute, maybe I can. So... I saw a TV show with a character, Gary, who has a girlfriend named... Maria."

"Yeah, and?"

"He might be dating Maria, but in reality he has a crush on his friend... Raul."

"Raul?! Seriously now?", thought Greg.

"And... does he know about it?"

"No... Actually Raul has a girlfriend too, named... Rachel."

"Oh I see! Why do you care so much about that though?"

"I'm trying to figure out what I would do if I were in Gary's shoes, but I can't. What do you think he should do?"

"If Gary doesn't really like his girlfriend, he shouldn't continue being with her."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, of course! How is that show called? I want to watch it too!"

"Uhh...! Sorry my mom is calling me."

"Okay will you call me again later?"

"Yes."

Greg hung up.

"But why did he tell me all this?", wondered Rowley. He took a notebook and started writing.  
"If I'm Gary then Maria is Riley... So... Greg thinks I like him and not Riley? No, no, wait..."  
Rowley smudged what he had written and started over.

Meanwhile, Greg was pacing in his room wondering if it was too obvious what he was actually talking about. Even if Rowley didn't seem to get it. His advice was right, though, he couldn't be with Mary while he didn't had any feelings for her, it wasn't right. He had to tell her the truth.

After a while, he called Rowley again.

"Hey."

"Hey, what did your mom want?"

"Nothing much, it was silly..."

They started chatting about random stuff until it was time for them to hang up.

"Goodnight Rowley."

"Goodnight Gary..."

Greg dropped the phone.


	5. Confrontation

The next day, the kids were sitting in class waiting for the teacher to come. But he seemed to be really late so the kids assumed that he wouldn't come at all.

In the beginning, Greg and Rowley were talking normally, like nothing had happened. That until...

"Rowley...?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we go outside for a bit to talk?"

"Yeah, let's go."

They walked out of the classroom and the two of them went somewhere alone.

"Look, I know you can't forget about it, just like I can't..."

"Yeah, you're right. But I don't really know what to do."

"You can't really do anything."

"For how long have you felt that way?"

"Only a few days... Since what happened in my room, which wasn't real, even if I know you didn't feel anything."

"And how are you so sure?"

"What do you mean?"

"..." 

Rowley started running away.

"No, wait!"

Greg was running behind him. They got into their classroom and kept running until they noticed everyone staring. They looked better and saw that the teacher was there and a lesson was happening.

"You're late AND you're playing tag? Detention after school!"

They sat down without saying anything more.

Mary saw Riley sitting next to her. Maybe she did like her a bit. Or a lot. It was unbelievable to her that after all that time she liked Greg, now that she had him, this happened. She had to tell him the truth, and that's what she was planning to do.

Later on, the teacher made a weird facial expression, and at the same time the bell rang.

The kids were confused, but then someone realized.

"Did we just have a lesson with... The bell?"

Everyone ran to ask the bell for an autograph. And in all that chaos, Mary approached Greg.  
  
"Greg? Can we go talk?"

"Yeah, let's go."

They went somewhere alone.

"Look Greg I have to tell you the truth. I can't keep hiding it from you."

"What is it?"

"The truth is that we have to break up because... I like someone else."

"Well to be honest, same."

"Really?"

"Yeah... Tell me, who is it?"

"I'm a little embarrassed..."

"I know what we'll do... We'll both say the names at the same time, okay?"

"Okay!"

"3...2...1..."

"Riley", said Mary.

"Rowley", said Greg.

However, because these names sound similar, it sounded like the said the same word.

"Wait... Did you say you like Riley?", asked Mary.

"Did you say you like Rowley?", asked Greg.

"No, I said I like Riley", said Mary.

"And I said I like Rowley", said Greg.

"Glad we cleared that up!", said Mary and they both laughed.

"So... Does Riley know you like her?"

"No, she doesn't. Does Rowley–"

"Yes."

"I see. Let's stay friends though."

"Yes of course!"

Later, Riley came there with Rowley, and Mary and Greg immediately stopped the conversation.

"How are you?", asked Mary.

"Fine.", answered Riley, "how's our favorite couple?"

"Actually we're no longer...", said Mary.

"Oh, how come?"

"We can't tell you but that's how it is... We're friends now."

"Okay then."

During the entire break, all the conversation was by Mary and Riley, because Greg and Rowley were avoiding looking at each other. And that was really strange, because in the beginning it was like nothing had happened. And then it wasn't.

After school, Mary and Riley left, but Rowley and Greg had to stay for detention. That certain day they happened to be the only ones who got detention, so they were in a classroom alone.

It was pretty awkward. Rowley was writing stuff on a notebook to pass the time.

"Rowley...?"

"Yes?"

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"What do you mean?..."

"You know what I mean..."

"You're right."

"You know how I've been feeling these days... So if you like me back please tell me..."

"Used to..."

"What?! When?"

"A year ago."

"Unbelievable..."

"I know. But I promised myself I was done with this..."

Rowley got up to leave.

"We can't leave, we're in detention!"

"Remember that the one who put us in it was the bell."

He almost left, but the bell started ringing, getting louder with every step he made. He ran back into the classroom and shut the door in order not to hear it because he couldn't stand it. 

"See? We can't leave."

Rowley sat in a corner.

"Fine but I want it to stop!"

"Calm down, it's not that bad."

"Yes it is..."

Greg went out for a bit, and quickly went to the teachers' office where the lever for the bell was. He pulled it in order to stop, and that's what happened. He went back to the classroom.

"Thank you", said Rowley and smiled at him.

"No problem.", said Greg and sat next to him.

Thankfully, the awkward stage had now ended, and they just say there and talked until detention ended, and even though it was detention, it didn't feel like it.


	6. The Villagerz

It was Saturday, and Riley woke up because of the voices of her dad's band. She went downstairs to listen better.

Riley didn't know what to expect, but surely not this mess.

The band consisted of 7 men who sang- well, shouted- acapella, which means without any instruments, and they clapped their hands over their heads. Most of them, to be exact, because two of them seemed to have completely given up and were just sitting on the floor.

The song ended, and everyone seemed very pleased. That was weird, because Riley expected them to collectively start crying because they couldn't sing. Or dance.

"Guys we are the best band to ever exist!"

"Better than The Beatles?"

"Way better!"

"We will rock the talent show and become famous!"

"We'll get so much money and ladi-", Bill started saying until he realized that his wife Jill could hear him. For a few seconds, Jill was looking at him angrily with her arms crossed, and Bill was looking at her like a scared little kid and was laughing nervously. 

Riley got tired of them and additionally she didn't have a way to tell them that they were an awful band and that they stank all the way upstairs, so she went back into her room and saw that Rowley had texted her.

"Hey Riley, I'm hanging out with Mary and Greg, want to come with us?"

"Yeah I do but do the others agree?"

"Yeah I asked them, they're okay with it."

"Okay where should I come?"

"Come by my house in like 10 minutes and we'll go meet them together."

"Ok."

Riley got dressed and went downstairs, ready to leave.

"You're going on a date Riley? Again?", Jill asked her.

"Not exactly-"

"Hey Bill your daughter has a boyfriend, did you know that?", said Jill.

"She's 15, isn't it about time?", said  
Bill indifferently.

"I don't understand, you used to hate the idea of her having a boyfriend."

"She was 12 then, different times."

The other 6 members of Villagers ran really slowly towards Riley, looking her in the eyes and smiling.

"Do you guys want something?"

"Do you want to serenade your boyfriend with our band?"

"No... But if I ever want to make him run away from me, I know who to address.

Riley left quickly and laughed at her mean statement.

"Did she imply something for our band?"

The other members shrugged and then went back to rehearsal.

Riley met with Rowley and they started walking together.

"Sorry if I was a little late, my dad's band pestered me."

"Ohh yeah how are they going?"

"They suck! But I heard them talk and they genuinely think they're better than The Beatles."

They both laughed.

They met Greg and Mary. Greg first saw Rowley and smiled but he wasn't late to notice that he was with Riley and the smile faded away. The exact opposite happened to Mary.

"Hey guys!", said Riley.

"Hey Riley!", said Mary. "Wanna go for a milkshake? That's where we always go!"

"Yeah, I do!"

They went to the milkshake store.

"We'll have four milkshakes."

"What flavors?"

"Chocolate", said Greg.

"Vanilla", said Mary.

"Strawberry", said Rowley.

"Hmm vanilla!", said Riley.

They took them and sat down to drink them. Riley was in a silly mood and was making jokes and puns with Rowley about milkshake flavors and they were laughing together.

Greg and Mary were too lost in their thoughts to appreciate their jokes. They looked at them while they were acting silly and laughing and they felt themselves falling even deeper in love with them.

Mary had a fantasy in which she shared a milkshake with Riley and the two were sitting on a bench cuddling.

Before she could continue her fantasy, she saw that Riley stopped laughing and was shocked. So she wanted to learn what had happened.

"Riley, what happened?"

"My dad's band..."

Mary turned back and saw 7 men getting in the store and starting to sing-shout while clapping.

"This is your dad's band?"

"Yeah, I know they suck. The point is why are they here?!"

Bill saw Riley halfway through the song and started talking to her, while the song continued.

"Riley? What are you doing here?"

"I'm hanging out with... What are YOU doing..."

We're having our first improvised concert!"

After a while, the manager came.

I'm afraid I'll have to kick you out. You are disturbing the customers."

"What the customers don't know is that one day we will be the most successful band in the world, and that they are given the chance to hear us for free before they have to pay hundreds just for a ticket in the back seats!"

"Please leave."

"Fine!"

The quartet saw them leave the store and go to the one just across the street. Though from the first seconds they left disappointed, and at the door was a man with crossed arms who then went back into the store.

"Wow...", was all that Mary could make out.

"I know.", said Riley.

Later on, Riley's dad came again, but this time on his own.

"Riley, I came here to tell you that me and my band mates we're suspicious that we aren't doing that great..."

"Nah, what made you think so?", replied Riley sarcastically.

"I just came here to tell you that if we don't play well in the talent show, we're going to move again in a new town. Bye I have to go home now, see you."

"No... I can't take another moving!"

Riley started crying just by the thought of this happening, and Rowley hugged her.

"Riley... I'm a musician, what if I helped them improve? That way they will do well and you can stay here!", said Mary.

"You would do that?"

"Of course!"

Riley got up and hugged Mary.

"Thank you so much!"

"No problem. I'll come by their rehearsal tomorrow to help them."

"Great! I'll ask my dad what time will they start their rehearsal so I can tell you."

"Nice!"

The time passed and everyone went home.


	7. Mary to the Rescue

The next morning Mary came, just like she had agreed with Riley. As long as Riley didn't have to move away, Mary was willing to spend hours with that awful band, so she can help them at least reach average.

She stepped in front of the band while they were rehearsing.

"Hey! Stop!"

They immediately stopped and looked at her confused.

"So! Someone has to tell you this blatantly. You suck."

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"I'm not done. You're horrible. You just need guidance from someone who has knowledge in music. And that someone is me!"

"But–"

"Do you want to do well on the talent show or not?!"

"We do..."

"Perfect. So, let's start from this... Does anyone here know how to play any instrument?"

One of them raised his hand. Mary looked at him and he pulled up his shirt and started using his belly as a drum.

"Okay... Anyone else?"

"I used to play the electric guitar... But I haven't played it in years.", said Bill.

"That's fine! You just need to relearn the basic chords and you'll be okay."

"Okay!"

"Perfect! You with the drum, I'll find some percussion instrument to give you. The rest of you seem to be the ones who will do the vocals."

"Yes!"

"Come to my house so I can play the piano and hear you sing."

They all went to Mary's house.

"Okay so each of you come here."

Mary played the piano to check if they could sing a simple melody. Mary didn't know why this surprised her, but they couldn't. The only thing they did was shout like they did previously.

"Okay, we'll work on it..."

After 2 hours of Mary trying to give them vocal lessons, she kicked them out of her house because she got tired.

"What were all those voices about?", asked William, her dad.

"The Villagerz..."

"Village who?"

"See, the dad of a friend is in a band... That's them. I was giving them vocal lessons to get them ready for the talent show."

"I don't want to stress you out, but to participate in a talent show they need to have–"

"Talent, I know..."

"Good luck with that."

"Thank you."

The same afternoon, Riley invited Rowley over, and when he arrived they went in her room. That didn't go unnoticed by Jill, though.

"Hey, Billie boy?"

"What?"

"It's probably time to set your music career aside and wake your paternal instinct up."

"Huh? What?"

"I'm saying this because there's a boy in your daughter's room right now."

"Okay... What what?!"

"Yeah."

"That sounds like a mission for the Villagerz!"

Bill immediately called his bandmates and ask them to come as fast as they could because it was an emergency.

After they arrived, they all went outside the house and sat on each others' shoulders. On the top was Bill, who was holding binoculars so he could look inside Riley's room window, so he could see what the heck they were doing in there.

They turned out to be just talking. Bill was relieved, and the Villagerz had to get down from the position that they were in, but the guy on the bottom lost his balance so they all fell down.

Riley and Rowley heard the voices and the bangs from the fall so they went to the window to see what happened. They saw them all laying on the ground.

"Dad?! Dad what happened?"

"Nothing Riley, we were just doing some dance moves when–"

"Your dad was worried about the fact that you were in your room with your boyfriend so he called us so we would help him spy on you.", said one of the members of the Villagerz.

"YOU TRAITOR!", yelled Bill and attacked him, so they ended up beating each other up.

"No! Stop!", shouted Riley and Rowley freaked out.

They were rolling about the ground and fighting, until Jill came out and split them. Later Riley and Rowley went back to their conversation, and Mary came over to talk with the members of the band, and was holding a tambourine.

She found them out there laying down but she didn't care enough to ask what happened to them.

"So... You with the drum belly, take this tambourine. I want you to put on songs and play the tambourine on beat in order to practice rythym. Okay?"

"Okay!"

"Great. Bill, for the next rehearsal I want you to relearn four basic chords. Take notes."

Mary tossed him a pen and Bill started writing on his hand.

"C, G, D and Am"

"Alright!"

"That's all I want for now, see you in the next rehearsal!", said Mary.

Later, the Villagerz left, and so did Rowley because his parents needed him at home for something. Mary was about to leave as well, but Riley asked her to stay a little longer. Mary agreed and they went to Riley's room.

"So, Mary, I just wanted to tell you that I really appreciate what you're doing for me. Thank you so much!"

"No problem, you don't have to thank me, really!"

"Of course I do, you're truly wonderful."

Riley hugged her, and Mary blushed and felt butterflies in her stomach, but she tried to act as natural as she could.

They passed the time talking and listening to music, until Mary had to leave. She wasn't exactly excited for the next rehearsal with those losers that called themselves a band, but she felt that all this was worth it at the end of the day. Not only because Riley would stay. But also because if there was ever a miracle and they became average and successful, they owed it all to Mary.


	8. Harmless Fire

The next day, the four kids went to school.

They had a chemistry lesson and they had to do some experiments with chemicals in groups of four. One of the groups were, of course, Mary, Rowley, Greg and Riley.

"Guys I think we did something wrong.", said Greg.

"Yeah true, let me check–"

The chemicals caught fire, but harmless fire, which means it didn't burn much, it was just a little warm.

The four kids panicked and tried to put it out, however their attempt resulted in all four of them catching the harmless fire.

"No panic! The only fire that can be created from these chemicals is the harmless fire. You won't be hurt, I'm going to bring the fire extinguisher.", said the teacher, and the kids were relieved.

"You could say that we are... the flaming four!", said Rowley and smiled at the others.

The others were staring at him a bit annoyed.

"What? No?"

"No."

"It's okay, I'm going to say it anyways."

The teacher came back with the fire extinguisher and put out the fire. After some time, the bell rang.

Greg and Rowley went to take a break, while Mary stayed with Riley, because Mary offered to explain some math exercises to her that she didn't understand.

"...and to find the turning points of the function, you have to find its second derivative."

"Yeah, got it!"

Riley, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't understand why Mary was so nice to her. First she offered to help her stay in Plainview by preparing her dad's awful band for the talent show, and now she missed the break just to help her with math.

Riley really appreciated that. But at the same time, what she felt for Mary wasn't just gratitude, just fondness, just friendship. She liked Mary. She didn't know if she was a horrible person for feeling that way about Mary while she was with Rowley. But on the other hand, whoever could control their feelings?

Riley imagined that if people's feelings were tiny creatures that pressed buttons on a control panel, hers would have gone crazy and thrash about on the control panel. What she didn't know, is that that was exactly what was happening.

She wasn't like her feelings though, and she knew what was the right thing to do. And that's what she would do.

Later she went and found Rowley, who was about to hug her when he saw her.

"Wait Rowley..."

"What's wrong?"

Riley hesitated a bit but she immediately pressured herself to do it.

"Come on Riley tell me."

"I want us to break up..."

"Oh... Okay if that's what you want... But why?"

"Sorry but I don't want to tell you, or at least not yet... Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. We'll stay friends, right?"

"Yes of course!"

Later school was out, and Rowley met Greg and they walked and talked.

"...so Riley broke up with me."

"Really? Why?"

"She didn't want to tell me."

"I see."

Greg immediately jumped on the opportunity, since that relationship was the only thing that was holding him back.

"Rowley?"

"Yeah?"

"You know that I like you very much..."

"Yeah..."

"I think that we're really compatible, since we know each other really well. I would really like it if you became my boyfriend."

"Wait... Look Greg... I don't know... I need some time to think about it."

"Take as much time as you need."

They both went home. When Greg went inside, his dad called his name.

"Greg?"

"Yeah, dad?"

"Let's talk for a bit."

"Okay."

They sat on the couch in order to talk.

"So, son... Is there anything between you and Rowley?"

"Like what?"

"You know... If you are together."

"Ohhh, no we aren't."

"But you'd want that?"

"You know what...", said Greg and look at his hand even though he wasn't wearing a watch, "I remembered that I forgot to do... a thing."

He left nervously and went to his room.

Meanwhile, Riley went to Mary's house to talk to her. Mary invited her in her room and they sat on her bed.

"...so you and Rowley broke up?"

"Yes."

"How come?"

"I broke up with him because..."

"Yeah?"

"Um..."

"Come on Riley tell me!"

"Because I like you..."

"Are you serious?!"

Riley was starting to worry.

"I like you too!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"So... Would you like to be my girlfriend?"

"Yes, I would!"

The two girls slowly moved closer to each other and had their first kiss. Then they hugged each other and smiled.

So they were now a couple, but they decided to keep that just between them, for now at least.

Three days passed, in which when Greg was with Rowley at school, the topic wasn't even brought up. Greg had started to worry that Rowley had either completely forgotten about it or was purposely avoiding it and would never give him an answer. He knew that he told me to take as much time as he needed, but he was still impatient.

That afternoon, Greg heard a knock on his house's door. He went to open and it was Rowley.

"Hey Greg, can you come outside to talk?"

"Yeah, I'm coming."

"So I thought about what you asked me..."

"Aaand?"

"I say yes!"

"You really want it?"

"Yes! I just don't want my parents to find out..."

"Yeah I won't tell my parents either..."

"You know that I usually share everything with them, but I can't share this sadly... If my dad finds out he's going to ban me from seeing you..."

"They won't find out, then."

Greg held his hand.

"I still can't believe that you are my boyfriend!"

"Yeah, me neither!"

"Can I...?"

"Yes of course!"

Greg looked around to make sure that no one could see them. Them he went back to looking at Rowley. He went closer, embraced him and they stared at each other for a bit until Greg kissed him.

When they stopped the kiss, they were still at each other's embrace. They didn't want this moment to end, but sadly, it had to.

"We had to leave... See you tomorrow, then.", said Greg.

"But... I want to stay with you longer..."

"But my rowl, they might see us."

"R-Rowl?", Rowley blushed deeply.

"Yeah! Do you like it?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"Great!"

"Can I call you greggy?"

"Aww yes", Greg blushed, "it's so cute! Please call me that!"

"Okay then, see you tomorrow, greggy!"

"Bye rowl!"

They went home, and in their rooms. Greg started writing everything in his diary and Rowley was skipping around and flapping his hands. Meanwhile, the same joy shared Mary and Riley who were texting each other.


	9. Bubby?

The next day at school, Greg, Mary and Riley were at school having a lesson, but Rowley wasn't there yet. Greg was looking at the empty seat next to him and then the door. He was impatiently waiting for him.

"Where is he, I hope my cutie's okay."

He kept thinking about him, until he suddenly appeared from the window.

"Good morning!"

Greg was taken aback by Rowley appearing unexpectedly from the window, so he blushed hard.

"Rowley we've talked about this! You have to enter through the door, not the window!", said the teacher.

"Oh right, sorry."

Rowley sat next to Greg.

"Heyy"

"Hi! What happened, why are you late?"

"I woke up and I thought it was Saturday."

"Me.", said Mary and laughed.

Rowley secretly held Greg's hand under the desk, which surprised Greg and made him flinch a bit for a second, but he ended up enjoying the touch of their hands together. They rubbed their thumbs together affectionately.

"We'll tell the others, right?", asked Rowley.

"Yeah, during the break."

The bell rang and they went for a break.

"So... Me and Rowley have something to tell you two.", said Greg and held Rowley's hand.

"No way!", said Mary excitedly.

"Yeah, we're together", said Rowley.

"I can't believe it! Congratulations you guys are so cute together!!!", said Mary and hugged them.

"Congrats guys!", said Riley.

"Thank you!"

Mary immediately looked at Riley like she was waiting for an answer about something, and Riley understood and nodded.

"What if told you... That you are not the only ones with surprises today?", said Mary.

"What do you mean?", asked Greg.

Mary held Riley's hand, and both of them were smiling, waiting for the others to understand.

"You two are also..."

"Yes!", said Mary and Riley at the same time.

"Congratulations!", said Greg and Rowley at the same time. Rowley now knew what the thing Riley didn't want to tell him was.

School was over, and the Jeffersons went to the Blacks' house again. Mary and Rowley were about to go to Mary's room until the Villagerz appeared out of nowhere.

"What are you doing here?!", asked Mary.

"We came to rehearse!"

"But our rehearsal is tomorrow!"

"We want to right now because we have more audience!"

"Ugh okay!"

The Jeffersons sat down to watch the rehearsal.

"So, did you do what I asked you to?"

"...n-no..."

"SERIOUSLY?!"

Mary started chasing them around the house. But then she calmed down."

"So... Right now you will go do what I asked you to."

"Okay!", said the belly guy, "wait, what did you ask me again...?"

Mary was trying to remain calm.

"You will take the tambourine, put on some music, and play the tambourine to the beat of the music."

"Ohhh, I got it! But I have one question."

"What?"

"What's a tambourine?"

Mary was just done.

"THE THING I GAVE YOU!"

"Ohhh that? Well, about that..."

"Yeah?"

"I... I threw it away..."

"WHY?"

"I don't know..."

Mary went and brought another one.

"There."

"I liked the other one better..."

"Then you shouldn't have thrown it away! Well, it's fine, let's do the song as we are."

The Villagerz started singing their song and shouting while Bill was failing to play the guitar and the other guy played the tambourine off-beat, just like the others' clapping.

Rowley and his mom Linda were freaked out, but Robert seemed to really, really like it. He got to them and started dancing.

The Villagerz were really happy about that and they asked him to join their band, and of course he agreed.

Later the rehearsal was over, and Robert asked his new band mates to eat squid with him and William. They agreed of course. They ate the squid using their bare hands in just a few seconds.

Rowley was texting Greg. Suddenly, the Villagerz approached him.

"Hello!"

"Hi."

"What is that square thing?"

"A phone."

"Can we see it?"

"You were just touching the squid–"

They grabbed his phone out of hands and had it for a long time. When they returned it to him, it had oil from the squid all over it. They had taken selfies and sent them to Greg, along with messages like "VILLAGERZ FOREVER".

"Sorry about that, they took my phone."

"I got that, it's fine. Wanna hang out later?"

"Yes."

Later, they hang out together and they started talking about the last year.

"So you liked me since last year.", said Greg.

"Yeah."

"To be honest... I should have figured that out when you sent me a Valentine's Day card.", said Greg and laughed a bit.

"There was a piece of candy too, don't forget about that."

"Ohhh yeah! I liked it."

They walked around the neighborhood, and as much as they wanted to leave kisses all over each other, they couldn't risk being seen by a wrong person.

Time passed, and they had to leave. They both were outside Greg's house and gave a quick kiss goodbye. What they didn't know, though, was that Greg's little brother, Manny, had seen them through the window.

Manny ran in the kitchen where his mom Susan was talking on the phone.

"Mom! MOOOOOM!"

"Wait a moment Manny, I'm talking on the phone."

"MOOOOOOOM!!!"

"I'll call you later", she said and hang up, "what is it, Manny?"

"BUBBY AND ROWLEY DID THE SMOOCH SMOOCH!"

Susan understood everything, and was a little surprised.

"Manny listen, you can't tell dad or Rodrick, okay?"

"Okay mom!"

Susan immediately went to talk to Greg. She went into his room.

"Ohhh hey mom!"

"Hey sweetie, I came here to tell you that Manny saw you with Rowley..."

Greg really started to worry.

"What did he see exactly?"

"He told me that he saw you guys... do the smooch smooch."

"Oh no... Did dad find out?"

"No, but I told Manny not to tell either him or Rodrick."

"And that's supposed to reassure me? He's four, it might slip out!"

"I'll try to be as careful as I can with him..."

"Fine..."

"So tell me... How did that happened?"

"Mom..."

"Come on, I need to know!"

"Fine..."

Greg explained everything to her.

"How beautiful... You should know that I have no problem with that."

"Thank you mom!"

Susan hugged him.


	10. Unacceptable!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning: Homophobia

Once Susan left Greg's room, Greg texted Rowley.

"We have a problem."

"Oh no, what happened?"

"Manny saw us kissing and told my mom..."

"What?! No!"

"Yeah... My mom took it well but I'm worried that he's going to tell my dad or Rodrick."

"Now I'm worried too... But when did he see us?"

"No idea."

Later, Greg went downstairs to play videogames and saw Manny playing in the living room. Specifically, he had two toys of Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story and was slamming their faces together, obviously pretending that they were Greg and Rowley.

Every attempt to make him stop failed, so Greg gave up and played videogames.

The next day, the four kids didn't have school because their teachers had some sort of meeting or something. Greg was sitting in his room, until the door opened and his dad entered furiously.

"Let you and me have a talk, FRIEND!", he yelled.

Greg panicked, because when his dad called him "friend", he knew he was in huge trouble.

"Manny's teacher from daycare called me to go there because Manny had drawn this!"

Frank showed him Manny's drawing, which showed Greg and Rowley inside of a heart kissing.

"With Rowley?!"

"Yeah, with Rowley..."

"But... He's a boy!"

"So? Is that so wrong?"

"Of course it is! It's not natural!"

They started arguing badly, until Susan intervened. Greg didn't feel so good after that and really needed to go see Rowley. He texted him, and he replied that he could come over to his house, so he did.

They went to his room, and Greg asked Rowley to lock the door.

Rowley pushed the door in order for it to shut, but he was a bit careless and turned the key before the door was completely shut, so it didn't lock. Neither of them noticed. They sat on Rowley's bed.

Greg told Rowley everything that happened with his dad. Rowley noticed how upset he was and wanted to comfort him, so he hugged him.

They cuddled for quite some time, until Rowley almost let go.

"Don't let go...", said Greg, holding him tighter.

"Okay, I won't.", answered Rowley continuing to cuddle him, and kissed him, and Greg kissed him back.

"Rowley have you seen my– WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!, said Robert while entering the room and seeing everything.

"Mr Jefferson I can explain–"

"What is there to explain, Greg? You kissing my son? Get out of by house!"

"But–"

"I said get out!"

Greg was forced to leave and get back home.

"Rowley... I don't recognize you... What is all this? I buy you all the stupid things you ask me and you repay me by becoming gay?"

"I've always liked both boys and girls. You just only found out now."

"But... being gay?! Next thing I know you come and tell me that you believe the Earth is round!"

"Yeah, about that..."

"Unbelievable! Who made you like this? Where's the old Rowley who I could take with me to flat earth conventions?"

"When you took me there I was too young to even know what was happening!"

Robert started yelling at him so intensely that he started crying. Linda heard the voices and went upstairs. Rowley, as soon as he saw his mom, ran towards her and hugged her.

"Are you out of your mind Robert? Why did you make him cry?"

"Ohh don't you know that your son has been kissing his best friend?"

"So? He can kiss whoever he wants."

"Also he's believed the lie about the Earth being round!"

"No problem. Just because we believe that the Earth is flat, doesn't mean that our son has to believe it too."

"But Rowley was always our little boy, we never disagreed on anything!"

"And you thought that this moment would never come? And to tell you the truth, I'm really glad he's not going to turn out like you."

"What did you say Linda?!"

"What you heard."

Robert stormed off and Linda was smiling proudly.

"Thank you so much mom!"

"No problem!", she said and gave him a forehead kiss before leaving.

Rowley saw that Greg had sent him like a hundred text messages asking if he was okay. Rowley replied.

"We had a fight, but I'm okay. At least he didn't ban me from seeing you."

"Thank god!"

"Yeah. What happened with your dad?"

"He didn't mention it again. I hope it stays that way."

"Me too."

That night in Greg's house, his family was having dinner. Frank was constantly giving Greg an angry look, and he was trying to ignore him, but it wasn't that easy.

That, until Frank burst.

"I knew it all along!"

"Dad stop..."

"I even asked you! And you said no!"

"I don't want to talk about it right now..."

"Why? You want me to let you think about your boyfriend in peace?"

"His boyfriend?!", said his brother Rodrick laughing.

"Yes, his boyfriend! What, didn't you know that your brother, or maybe your sister, is dating Rowley?"

"You're dating baby hippo?!", said Rodrick and kept laughing at him.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!", said Susan and they stopped.

Greg left the dining table and went in his room. He laid on his bed and texted Rowley everything that had happened.


	11. Gay Chaos (Gayos)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning: Homophobia

It was morning, and Greg was still asleep, until Rodrick came into his room to wake him up.

"Sissy?", he said while poking him, "wake up sissy!"

"Don't call me that..."

"But why? You are my sissy!"

"Enough..."

"Come on, get up! You'll go see your boyfriend, you must be really excited."

Greg got up and managed to kick Rodrick out of his room, and he got ready for school.

In school, Greg and Rowley told Mary and Riley everything that had happened with their families.

"I can't believe it... Are you guys okay?"

"Well, so and so..."

Some time passed.

"Riley, do you want to hang out after school?", asked Mary.

"Yes, I do!", answered Riley.

"Great!"

After school, Mary and Riley went out together. What they didn't know, though, was that nearby was the group of kids that messed with Riley on her first days on this school.

Mary hugged Riley and they started kissing, which those kids immediately saw.

"Oh look, they're lesbians!"

These kids were laughing and taking pictures of them. They later left, and Mary and Riley had no idea any of this had happened.

Mary and Riley were still hugging.

"I'm so happy you are my girlfriend!", said Mary.

"Me too!", said Riley.

They kissed again, but their kiss was interrupted by Mary's phone ringing. Mary picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi Mary, it's Bill. I have something really important to tell you."

"What?"

"The talent show was transferred to... tomorrow!"

"What?! But you guys aren't ready at all!"

"I wouldn't say at all..."

"Exactly what you heard, at all! We'll have a rehearsal in my house in an hour."

"Okay."

Mary hang up and seemed to be panicking.

"What's wrong, Mary?", asked Riley.

"The talent show was transferred for tomorrow and the band isn't ready at all!", said Mary.

"No! If they do badly they will break up and we'll move away again!"

"I can't let that happen."

"But how much can they improve in one day? Can you do that?"

"For you? I can do anything."

Time passed and Mary had to go home for the rehearsal. On the one hand, she wasn't in the mood to be extremely annoyed at them again, but on the other hand, she was glad it would be for the last time. If everything went well, she wouldn't have to lose Riley, and she would be done with the Villagerz once and for all.

Mary was expecting to see the seven Villagerz, but she saw Robert too. She had completely forgotten that he joined the band too.

"Mary are you sure that I can join the band? I don't know anything about music.", said Robert.

"Then you'll fit right in!", replied Mary.

They rehearsed for many hours straight, and Mary had to admit that they weren't horrible anymore. They were just bad. Mary was very proud of herself for accomplishing that.

The next day at school, Mary and Riley came upon an unpleasant surprise. There were pictures of them kissing all over the school on the walls.

"Can I be the best man at your wedding?", said a guy laughing while passing by.

"Who did this?!", asked Riley.

"I have no idea. Someone must have seen us yesterday when we were hanging out."

"Probably..."

Mary and Riley took all the pictures, and were trying to ignore other people's comments. It was very hard though, because they were bothering them all day about this. This was clearly an awful day at school for them. Even the teachers were staring at them and making implications, something Mary thought wasn't professional at all, but wasn't too affected, because she knew that she could make them lose their jobs with just a phone call if she wanted to. But she didn't want to become so cruel.

That afternoon, they all went to the talent show. First to perform was Rodrick's metal band, Löded Diper.

"They were awesome!", said Mary when they were done and the three others agreed.

They watched the other performances too, some good, some average, some tragic. It was finally the Villagerz' turn and Mary seemed to be way more nervous than them.

They started their song, and the crowd was indifferent. This reaction was way better than what Mary had in mind, therefore so far, so good.

That was, until a picture appeared in the screen behind them. It was one of the pictures of Mary and Riley kissing. Apparently someone was determined enough to mess with them to get themselves into the control room and do... that.

The crowd started going crazy, but the Villagerz thought it was because of their music, so they were so flattered that they went wild, completely ignoring everything they had learned in the rehearsals. No one was paying enough attention to them to notice their mess, though.

"Lesbians!", everyone shouted and pointed at Mary and Riley. William was angrily staring at Mary.

The Villagerz' song ended and they kept bowing on their own.

"They loved us!"

One of the Villagerz grabbed the microphone and thanked the audience for everything, announcing the names of the eight Villagerz, but mentioning nothing about Mary. Mary got really mad and went on the stage with Riley and argued with them.

"Seriously?! I waste hours of my life trying to teach you how to play music and you don't even mention my name?!"

"We... we forgot."

"You guys are tragic! You didn't even thank her!", said Riley.

The crowd kept shouting for Mary and Riley and made them feel awful. Both of them were so upset that they started crying.

Rowley had an idea and shared it with Greg.

"It's risky but we have to!", answered Greg.

They both got on stage holding hands.

They all left Mary and Riley alone and turned to look at Greg and Rowley.

"What are these guys going to do?"

Greg and Rowley kissed and everyone started shouting like crazy and took pictures.

Robert, who was already on stage, went and pulled Rowley away from Greg.

"Are you out of your mind?! Not only do you kiss him, you do it in public to embarrass me? Come home now!"

"But!–"

Robert took Rowley home against his will. Greg was really worried about him because Robert seemed really angry.

Later, the man in charge of the talent show came out to handle the situation.

"What is this?! Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?"

Greg thought that he was referring to the kiss, but he was wrong.

"We came here today to appreciate people's talents, not make fun of people! And what if they're gay, lesbians, bi, trans or anything? You do know that you could have been born as those things too, right? Grow up!"

Another man, who seemed to be his husband, got up on stage and kissed him.

Greg, Mary and Riley were truly happy and started applauding. Mary and Riley kissed as well.

"I wish Rowley was here so he could see this moment too.", said Greg.

"The entire show will be posted online, he's going to see it anyways.", said Mary.

"Yeah, you're right."

"It was wonderful that you and him risked everything for us!", said Mary.

"Yeah, I have no words to thank you.", said Riley.

"No problem! It was his idea!", said Greg.

"But how did he think of it, it was amazing!", said Riley.

"Yeah, just like him!", said Greg.

The crowd stopped talking about the incident, and they waited impatiently for the announcement of the winner.

The man in charge of the show came again to make the announcement.

"And the winner of this year's talent show is... nobody! Because no one should look back to this day and feel proud... Except for these four kids... I only see three now... But if someone can be considered a winner today that's them!"

Greg, Mary, and Riley got up on stage and, oddly enough, the crowd cheered for them. The man gave them a small trophy.

"I-Is this for us?", asked Riley.

"Yes, of course!", said the man.

"Thank you so much!", said Greg.

"If Rowley was here he'd say we're the Flaming Four!", said Mary.

"Yeah, you're right!", said Greg.

"Flaming Four!", shouted Riley.

"FLAMING FOUR!", the three of them shouted while holding the trophy up.


	12. Exasperation

After the talent show, Greg, Mary and Riley passed by Rowley's house. While they were standing outside, they heard Robert screaming at Rowley and calling him well, let's say... very offensive words, and Rowley sobbing. At one point they heard something shatter and, after that, a door shutting with too much force.

Rowley, at his attempt to calm down, found the video of the talent show to see what he missed.

"FLAMING FOUR!" he heard the others shout in the video and he smiled with tears in his eyes, which he then wiped.

Suddenly he heard a knock on his door and the others came in, while holding the trophy.

None of them said anything. The three of them approached him slowly and hugged him, feeling him still trembling. The fact, though, that he felt them close to him really comforted him. Then they broke the hug and gave him the trophy.

"We want you to have it.", said Riley.

"No, I wanted it–", said Mary.

"Oh, shut up.", said Greg and they all laughed.

"Thank you so much!", said Rowley.

"No problem!"

At one point, Robert started yelling while the door was opening.

"Who are you talking to, you mor–", he saw the three other kids and stopped, "sweetie maybe it's a little late for visitors?"

Before anyone could even react, Robert threw the others out.

"Look Rowley, maybe I overreacted a bit..."

"A bit...?"

"I just didn't like what you did. Now everyone's going to think of me as the man who has a gay son."

"Can you leave me alone?"

"But I came here to apologize."

"You're only making it worse..."

Robert listened to him and left. A part of Rowley blamed himself for the situation. He was finding himself really mad at his dad which just never happened in the past. He really didn't know why their relationship was falling apart this much. They used to be close. Really close. And he didn't want that ruined just because of his relationship with Greg. He wished his dad would just accept it and love him anyway, so they could be just like they were before.

Greg went home, expecting nothing similar to happen, since his dad didn't come to the talent show and didn't see what had happened. Or at least, that's what he thought.

In reality, however, Frank knew everything because he saw it on video.

"Are you out of your mind FRIEND? What was that today?"

"Me and Rowley wanted to help Mary and Riley because everyone was making fun of them!"

"You should have just all left... Did you have to make a fool out of yourself too? Just so everyone finds out that my son is doing these things?!"

Greg couldn't take his yelling anymore, so he went in his room, where he found Rodrick reading his diary and laughing. After he managed to kick him out and get his diary back, Greg saw that Rodrick had written offensive things about both Greg and Rowley, as well as their relationship. 

When Greg read all that, he started crying. He knew that Rodrick wasn't the nicest person, so he shouldn't be surprised he did that. It wasn't really about the things he wrote. He was just tired of everyone disapproving of his relationship with Rowley. He just knew Rowley felt the same way. Why couldn't they just enjoy each other in peace?

Riley was in her room and she was video chatting with Meg, since they hadn't talked in many days and they had a lot of things to tell each other.

Meg went first, and she told her everything that had happened in her life in that time, starting, of course, from the most important thing to her. The fact that she got a boyfriend. Riley congratulated her and then it was her turn to talk, so she did. Luckily, Meg wasn't homophobic and didn't judge her about the fact that she had a girlfriend.

While they were talking, Riley's parents called her to go downstairs.

"Sorry Meg, I have to hang up because my parents are calling me."

"Okay, goodnight!"

Riley closed her laptop and went downstairs where she found both her parents on the couch with a serious look on their faces.

"Riley..."

"It's about my relationship with Mary, isn't it?"

"No, we don't have a problem with that, do whatever makes you happy."

"Really?! Great! Then why did..."

"Are you going to tell her Bill or should I do it?"

"I'll do it. We're moving. Again."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"No, not at all.", said her dad, "The Villagerz are falling apart. This time we're going to Canada."

"I'm not leaving this place! My girlfriend, my friends, and my new hockey team are all here!"

"But we have to go!"

"You like playing with my feelings, don't you?"

"It's not like that... Look, we know that it's hard for you."

"No! You obviously don't!"

Riley went into her room and started crying.

Meanwhile, William was scolding Mary.

"What was all this, Mary? You are a Black!"

"And what about that?"

"You have to respect that name and not be so... lesbian..."

"I'm not a lesbian. I'm bi."

"Whatever that is, what I know is that you're completely out of control! You've drifted away from your obligations! You will become a failure!"

"Where did that come from? And I haven't drifted away, I barely have any free time!"

"What I know is that you have to do whatever I tell you if you want to become a successful entrepreneur like me!"

"I don't even want to become a entrepreneur! I want to become a vet! That's what I always wanted!"

"Don't be silly, these are childish dreams. You keep letting your feelings lead your decisions. We wanted to put you into private school but you wanted to go to school with Rowley no matter what! While you know what I think of public education! And now that you tell me that while you have the potential to become one of the greatest entrepreneurs in the world, you will become a vet!"

"I'm so sorry I want to take my own decisions!" 

"You've crossed the line Mary! I have to be even stricter with you! You won't leave the house unless it's for a lesson. I'll increase the hours of your lessons in languages and instruments too. And I'll enroll you in private school!"

"Dad please no! I can't stand all this pressure! I want to be like other kids!"

"But you're not! You're a Black!"

"Then I would rather not be one!", yelled Mary and ran up the stairs. She was crying in her room, just like the others.

The next day at school, a teacher kept staring at them during the lesson.

"Something's wrong, miss?", asked Mary.

"No no... it's just weird."

"What?"

"That you're... you know!"

"What's your problem?!"

"I know that I'm not normally allowed to talk to you about your personal lives, but you were the one who asked me..."

"You were the one who was staring!"

"It came out spontaneously, but I wasn't planning on telling you anything."

"You know what? I refuse to have a lesson with you!", said Mary and went out, and was followed by Greg, Rowley and Riley.

During lunch, the group were talking about what had happened the previous day.

"You guys probably heard my dad's yelling when you came by my house... He treated me horribly... And my mom wasn't home to stop him!", said Rowley.

"My dad keeps yelling at me too, but not as intensely as yours... But I have to deal with Rodrick making fun of me all the time!", said Greg.

"My parents want us to move away again but I can't accept this! At least they have no problem with me being bi...", said Riley.

"My dad is suppressing me more than ever! I can't take it anymore!", said Mary.

While they were venting about their problems, the other kids began to taunt them and throw food at them, resulting in their clothes and hair becoming a mess.

"I'm so sick of homophobia!", said Mary.

"Me too!", said the others at the same time.

"I have an idea...", Mary started saying, "But it's kind of risky...'

"What is it?"

"We should run away... Away from everything!"

"Yes!", said Greg and Riley.

"Rowley? Don't you want that?"

"I do but... My mom will be sad, and she didn't do anything to deserve it..."

"I don't want to make my mom sad either... We just have to think about ourselves now! We'll leave them a note, and I'm sure that they'll understand."

"Yeah, you're right!"

"See? If you guys want to we can go to London, I have a house there!"

"Wouldn't that be obvious? They'll find us.", said Greg.

"Yeah, right. Then where do you guys want to go?"

"New York?"

"Yeah! That's where we'll go! Tonight at 12 AM we'll all meet up and leave on my private jet.", said Mary.

"Got it!", said the others.

So it was settled. The quartet would be running away to New York.


	13. Away from home...

Night came. Mary was packing her stuff, but other than clothes, she didn't want to carry a lot more stuff. She had to choose only one instrument to take with her.

Obviously it wasn't possible for her to take the piano, so she had to choose between her guitar and ukulele. After some thought, she chose the latter.

She started writing a note to her parents, in which she explained the reasons why she was leaving. She hoped that her mom would understand.

Later, she took plenty of cash from her parents, cause there was no way they would even notice it was gone.

She left the note in her room and then left.

Riley was packing her stuff as well. She took her hockey equipment and her laptop so she could chat with Meg, and then left a note to her parents as well.

Rowley took all his stuffed animals and his "Zoo-Wee Mama!" comics that he used to make in 7th grade, and put them in a bag.

He went towards his half open door of his parents' room and he was looking at them while they were sleeping.

"I'm sorry...", he whispered before leaving them the note and leaving.

Greg took his diary with him, as well as his videogames, because he wouldn't be able to last a day without them.

He left the note in his room, and went downstairs and opened the door in order to leave.

"Where do you think you're going, sissy?", he heard his brother Rodrick ask him.

"Uhhh, I'm going for a walk for a bit and then I'll be back.", answered Greg nervously.

"You're running away, aren't you?"

"I'm not? Bye!"

Greg shut the door and left.

"Wow, he's not that good of a liar after all at...", thought Rodrick.

And just like that, the four of them met.

"Are you guys ready?", asked Mary.

"Yes!", answered the rest of them, and just like that, all four of them boarded Mary's private jet and left.

They fell asleep almost as soon as the jet took off, and after about four hours they arrived in New York.

They got off the jet, and their first step was to buy a house. Mary bought one and they all went there.

"It's kinda small, but I think it's good.", said Mary.

The other three were left in shock, gaping. The house was a large villa with a pool.

"What, don't you like it?", asked Mary.

"Are you kidding?! It's awesome!", the others replied.

After they went inside and unpacked their stuff, they started acting silly pillow fighting.

They all ended up on the floor laughing. The sun started to come up.

"Silliness aside, we have to go to school too.", said Mary, "wanna go enroll in one here today?"

"Yes!", said the others.

Later, they went in a school that was really close to their new house, and they enrolled.

"When can we start lessons?"

"You can start today!", said the principal.

"Really? Great!"

Before the lesson started, two kids met the hot quartet.

"Hey guys!"

"Hi!"

"I'm Dani!"

"And I'm Ramon! You?"

"Mary."

"Rowley."

"Greg."

"Riley."

"Cool names! You're lucky that you managed to enroll, because you wouldn't be able to after November."

"Really?"

"Yes! The principal told us two to guide you in your first day at school."

"Sounds great!"

"Yeah! Also, wanna hang out after school?"

"Yeah, we do!"

After school, the six kids went to a café to hang out.

"What brought you here?", asked Ramon.

"It's a long story..."

They explained everything. Dani and Ramon seemed to be people they could trust, and that they could understand.

They told them about the bullying at school and, of course, their families' reaction...

"Oh... Reminds me of my family when I came out to them as non-binary.", said Dani.

"Just like my family when I came out to them as a trans guy.", said Ramon.

After they talked, the hot quartet noticed a group of kids on a nearby table laughing and talking about the "Villagerz".

"V-Villagerz?", they said surprised.

"Ohhh you haven't seen them? They're viral, look them up on YouTube.", said Dani.

Once the four kids went home, they rushed to connect Riley's laptop with the giant screen on the living room and sat all together to watch the video that everyone was talking about.

"Hello! We're the Villagerz! With a Z!"

Each one of them said their name.

"We're a band! The best one in the world!"

"I'm the good looking one in the group!", said Robert, "but don't get your hopes up ladies, I have a wife and a son."

"Ohhh yeah how old is your son?", asked another member of the Villagerz.

"I don't know, 12?"

"Neat!"

"I'm the brain of the group!", said Bill, "really, ask me anything!"

"I'll ask! So, Bill, what's the capital of Italy?"

"Uh...", Bill had started to panic, "Madrid!"

The others cheered for him because of his "cleverness".

Then they started to play a game called "find the differences". One picture showed a dog and the other showed a cat. None of them could figure out what the difference was.

Then Jill was heard knocking the door and asking them to be quiet. Because, obviously, none of them knew how to edit it out of the video.

For the grand finale, they sang. Of course they didn't use anything Mary had taught them.

The song was over.

"Tap the button to see more videos of us!"

"Do it for me cause I'm a handsome boy!", said Robert.

The video ended and the hot quartet was left in shock.

"This can't be real! It can't!", said Riley.

"My dad doesn't know how old I am?!", said Rowley.

"Rowley, Riley... If I were you right now I'd be dead from embarassement.", said Greg.

"Same.", said Mary.

"I don't want to think about it anymore.", said Riley.

Later the four kids went into their rooms and fell asleep because they were really tired from the trip and school.


	14. Pizza's Here!

Meanwhile, Linda was reading the note Rowley had left her, and as she read it, her whole body began to tremble and tears welled up in her eyes.

"ROBERT!!!", she screamed.

"I'm sorry wifey, but right now I'm busy with my music career, so don't bother me."

"I don't care about your career with those idiots, okay?! Rowley left because of you!"

"What are you talking about? Rowley leaves every day, he's got school! Shame on you for not knowing that.", answered Robert and left, leaving Linda to cry alone.

When the group woke up, they saw that the Villagerz had uploaded a new video. But they did not expect to see THAT...

In the video Greg's mom, Susan, was sitting on Bill's and Robert's laps.

Greg, Rowley and Riley looked at each other all horrified.

"It might not be what it looks like..."

"I'm Bill, the smart man!"

"I'm Robert, every woman's wildest dream!"

"And this is Susan, our number one fan..."

"And our number one chick!"

"ΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑ!!!", screamed Greg, Rowley and Riley.

Jill heard that. She went into the room, and started chasing Bill around with a flip flop. Then the video was cut and started again from a different location, where the Villagerz and Susan were all chilling and drinking wine.

"They're in my room!", said Greg.

"Cheers!", they said and made a toast, clinking their glasses so hard that they shattered, and Greg's room was filled with broken glass and wine.

Robert started telling stories from his past, even though literally no one asked him. One of them was pretty interesting though...

"So my son had a best friend who I did not like AT ALL, but the only reason I did not forbid my son to hang out with him was because I was secretly into his mother."

The other Villagerz laughed.

"And guess who his mother was... It was my little croissant Susan!", said Robert and took her back onto his lap.

But suddenly, after a while, Robert got really serious.

"But now that I'm thinking about it... Maybe I should have done it!"

"What are you talking about?", asked Susan.

"I should have forbidden my son from hanging out with your son! They wouldn't be dating now!"

"Listen, maybe you have to accept that at some point."

"Never!", said Robert acting like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Wait...", said Greg, "don't they care that we left? Don't they miss us? The only thing they care about is whether we're gay or not?"

"Sure seems that way...", said Rowley sadly.

"Then leaving was the best choice we could make!", said Riley.

"Yes!", said Mary.

Later, the four teens were relaxing in their rooms. Even though the house was big enough so that each person could have their own room, they chose for the couples to share their rooms so they can keep each other company.

Greg was sitting on the bed, and Rowley was lying down. He wasn't asleep, but he was acting a little strange. He wasn't looking towards Greg, and he wasn't responding when he called his name.

Greg softly turned his Rowley's head so he'd look at him. Rowley started looking at him and smiling, while Greg was stroking his hair.

Greg moved closer and leaned in. He started kissing him. He felt himself lost in the moment, so he closed his eyes.

While he was kissing him, he opened his eyes for a brief moment so he could look at him.

But instead of seeing Rowley like he expected, he saw Robert.

"ΑΑΑΑΑΑ!", screamed Greg as he tried to move away from him, but no matter how hard he tried, he was physically unable to.

"Greg?", he heard a very familiar voice say. It was Rowley!

"Rowley! Help!"

"Greg!"

Robert disappeared, and Greg saw Rowley above him trying to wake him up.

"Greg, you're awake! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a dream that freaked me out... But I want to forget it so let's not talk about it!"

"Okay.", answered Rowley before giving him a peck on the lips and lying down with him.

How could Greg even tell Rowley that he dreamt that he turned into his dad during a kiss? He didn't want to creep him out. They fell asleep in each others' embrace.

The next day, the group went to school. Mary and Riley were holding hands all the way there and exchanged little kisses. Even when they arrived at school they continued for a bit, and no one made a negative comment.

"You have no idea how much I enjoy being with you all the time!", said Mary.

"Me too", said Riley

They went in class, but as soon as they walked in, there was an announcement that due to an emergency there wasn't going to be any lessons that day. So the hot quartet went home.

When they were ready to get in, they heard a noise that Mary would recognize anywhere in the world.

"Those are my dad's helicopters! He's searching for us!"

They really were, because they had "William Black" written on them. The group quickly went inside and locked everything so they wouldn't be found.

"Guys, you're not opening anything! Also you want make any phone calls because they can track the signal. Okay?", said Mary.

"Okay!"

A bit later, the helicopters left to search somewhere else, so the group calmed down a little.

"We're safe, but we still need to be careful."

They sat in the living room and started talking about random stuff so that they would forget about before.

"Remember our date?", Riley asked Rowley while laughing.

"Yes, of course!", he replied and laughed as well, and so did the others.

Their date had become one of the inside jokes of the group, mostly because of how awkward it was. People would expect that since they broke up, their friendship would be awkward, but in reality it wasn't. The same thing was true for Mary and Greg.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"Ohhh the pizzas must be here!", said Rowley and almost went to open the door.

"No!", said Mary and pulled him back before he could go, "remember that they're looking for us!"

"Yeah, you're right."

All four of them slowly approached the door so they wouldn't make any noise. They looked through the door's peephole so they could see who it was.


	15. Their Best Week

They looked through the door's peephole and saw a guy in a red shirt holding pizza boxes. They were instantly relieved and sat in the living room to eat them.

Greg and Rowley moved closer to each other and snuggled. They started caressing each other like usual and fed each other pizza.

Mary and Riley looked at each other. They didn't even have to speak, because they agreed with their eyes. They snuggled too and did the same.

"You're amazing, you know that?"

"You're more amazing."

"No, you"

"No, youuuu"

They had been in New York for a week now. They wouldn't admit it to themselves, let alone to each other, but they kinda missed their families. But at that point it was too late for regrets.

Going back... That was a topic no one ever dared to bring up. Would they ever come back? They had to, right? They couldn't just stay there forever. But they liked it there. They truly liked it, they felt truly happy. They felt a warmth that they simply had not felt anywhere else. And it wasn't because their villa had autonomous heating. It was because they had each other.

Back in Plainview, Linda was with Elinor, Mary's mom.

"I can't stand Robert anymore, honestly.", said Linda.

"Why, what did he do?"

"He doesn't care about me or Rowley. Well he never really cared about Rowley... I forced him to pretend and spend time with him, because I didn't want Rowley to know how awful his father was... And after spending time with those idiots of the band, he's become so much worse!"

"Ohh I see..."

Rowley doesn't remember this and I haven't told him, but when we got Rowley's autism diagnosis, Robert just left. He was gone for days, the kid was asking me where he was and I had to lie to him and tell him that he's gone for work and that he would come back... And then he came back and started apologizing to me!"

"SERIOUSLY?!"

"Yes! He didn't want an autistic child, he said. I didn't want an idiot husband either, but what can we do?!"

"To be honest I get you, because I myself can't stand William."

"Really?"

"Yes! He's pressuring Mary to her limits, the only thing he cares about is money and businesses, and he's cold towards me and neglects me! But nevermind about me, do you know how pressured Mary is? Probably not, because when you come and he hangs out with Robert, he turns into a completely different person... Like he used to be before we got married..."

"I see... I'll tell you something, at this point I don't care about Robert's money. I'm sick of him."

"I don't care about William's money either. It doesn't matter if he doesn't show a minimum amount of love, to me and his daughter..."

"I wish things had stayed the way they were before...", said Linda and tried to kiss Elinor, but Elinor backed off.

"No Linda... We can't leave everything behind for the sake of a high school romance... It's in the past... Besides, you were the one who dumped me for Robert!"

"And now I realize how wrong I was."

"I'm sorry Linda, but it's not right..."

Later, Linda went home, and saw Robert watching his favorite TV show as usual, where a bunch of losers went. A man sat on a chair, while women danced for him and sang off-key. Right after, the man had to choose which one of them he wanted. One day Robert forced Rowley to watch it with him, when he was only ten. Needless to say, Rowley doesn't want to remember it.

"Stop watching this garbage.", said Linda.

"Never! But let me tell you something... Something's different in this house... But what?", said Robert.

"Hmmm tell me, what do you think it is?"

"It's quieter... The fridge is fuller than usual... And I can watch my show in the living room without you whining about it."

"...ROWLEY LEFT I'VE TOLD YOU A HUNDRED TIMES!", Linda replied.

"Really? Where did he go?"

"That's the problem, we don't know!"

"No... Our little boy fell off the Earth!", said Robert and started crying.

"A bit unlikely... At least we know that he's not alone... He's with Mary and Greg, and that friend of his, Riley.", said Linda.

"Ohhh so that dirty brat left so he can make out with Greg!"

"Are you out of your mind?! Don't ever call him that again."

"He deserves it! When he gets back he won't get away with it so easily, be sure of that!"

Meanwhile, in Greg's house...

"It's my fault, I was too strict with him...", said Frank.

"Yeah, to be honest, it is. Yes he's dating a boy, so what?"

"For a long time, I had suspicions that there was something between these two... And I didn't like it at all! I think Greg would be better off dating a girl, it's more right! More normal!"

"Anyhow, we need to find him."

While they were talking, Frank's phone ringed and he picked it up.

"Hello Frankie, it's William."

"Ohhh hi Willie. What's up?"

"I was thinking that we should go on a vacation, me, you, Robbie and Billie for a few days, so we can forget a bit about the situation with our children. I'll pay for everything. What do you say?"

"It's a wonderful idea! Where will we go?"

"I was thinking... New York."

"Perfect!"

The next day, the four of them arrived in New York. They were heading towards their hotel, until something unexpected happened.

"I'm really glad we came here, so we can forget a bit about– OUR KIDS!"

They all turned around and saw the four kids walking together and laughing. Suddenly they saw them and freezed.

For a few seconds, awkwardness filled the air. Both quartets were looking at each other without moving or speaking. After the shock passed, the fire quartet started running away, followed by their parents chasing after them.

At some point, they managed to get out of their field of view and hide.

"What do we do now?!", asked Rowley.

"I don't know! But I don't want them to take us away from here!", said Mary.

"Me neither!", said Riley.

All four of them started crying and hugging. They tightened the hug, because they knew it really well that this could be their last one.

Perhaps they overdid it with the volume of the crying though, because they led their parents into discovering their hiding place.

"Home! Now!"

"No! We're not going anywhere!"

No matter how much they resisted, the group ended up on William's private plane, and they headed back towards Plainview.

Of course they were sad that all this had come to an end, but they were happy that they experienced it at all. They could all agree that this had been the best week of their lives.

"Guys?"

"Yeah, Mary?"

"Let's all promise that we're not going to let them tear us apart. Not them, not anyone."

"Yes, of course!"

"And that we'll do anything to be together, no matter what."

"We promise!"

"I promise too. Flaming four?"

"Flaming Four!"


	16. Back to Base

The four teens were back in Plainview. Despite their parents' scolding, none of them regretted what they did all together.

"Sweetie, I understand that you felt pressured, but you should have talked to us about it instead of leaving like that.", said Susan. 

"Like you'd listen to me..."

"Like you already know, we're taking you to a different school... And we're banning you from seeing the others.", said Frank.

"You can't do this! Mom say something!"

"Trust me, it's for your own good.", said Susan.

"This will be anything but good for me... Please no!"

"Oh I'm sorry sweetie. You should probably just forget about Rowley."

"But–"

"BUBBY!!!", said Manny suddenly and ran towards him.

"He missed you!", said Susan.

"Yeah, me too.", said Greg and hugged him.

When Greg's parents and Manny left, Rodrick went there.

"Don't tell me you're actually going to listen to them."

"I really don't know... But why are you telling me this? When you found out that I'm dating Rowley you made fun of me."

"You really thought that I care? Do whatever you want to but I'm still going to tease you."

"Fine..."

Meanwhile, in Rowley's house...

"Rowley! You have no idea how much I missed you!", said Linda while hugging him.

"I missed you too mom!"

"Rowley we need to talk.", said Robert strictly.

Rowley went with him, while Linda signaled Robert to talk peacefully with him.

"Listen, we're taking you to another school... And you better forget about Greg."

"I can't do that, dad!"

"Sure you can. He is the one who ruined you like that. Him and the other two lesbians. But mostly him."

"Fine...", said Rowley and went to his room.

"We'll keep seeing each other, right?", Greg texted him.

"Yeah. Meet tomorrow after school?"

"Yes, of course!"

Rowley had always been the type of person who would always do as he was told, and never lie to anyone. 

But in that case, it was beyond his control. He didn't see why he had to end something so beautiful because his dad disapproved of it.

It was unfair.

He just couldn't do it. And even if he could, he wouldn't want to. Greg just meant so much to him, that he was willing to do anything for him, even go against his dad's expectations.

Meanwhile, in Riley's house...

"Riley you shouldn't have done that, we got worried!", said Jill.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't take it anymore."

"Okay, but please don't go anywhere without telling us, you make us worry."

"Okay..."

Riley's parents never disapproved of her relationship with Mary, and she was grateful for that. 

She didn't have to change schools, but she knew really well that her friends and girlfriend would all leave the school. She hoped at least one of them would be able to convince their parents.

Meanwhile in Mary's house, Mary was waiting for her dad who wanted to talk to her. She was trembling and on the verge of tears. Then she saw him and started talking panickly.

"Dad I'm really sorry–"

"Don't talk... Here's your uniform for your new school.", said William while he gave Mary the uniform, "you'll go there starting tomorrow."

"Okay..."

"And I better not see you with Riley again!"

"Don't you think you are overreacting?", asked Elinor.

"Not at all."

"Yes, it was wrong of her to leave, but by the way you treat her, I understand why she did it."

"I'm not taking back my decision."

The next day, Mary went to her new school. She looked around. The building of her new private school was clearly better than the one of her old public school, but she really didn't care. She'd rather be with her friends and girlfriend.

Suddenly, she was approached by the three popular girls.

"Hey, you're the new girl right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Reagan, and these are my best friends, Jessica and Misha. What's your name?"

"Mary."

"Nice name. Wanna sit with us?"

"Sure, why not?"

Mary was willing to give those girls a chance, cause she had nothing to lose, and sat with them to get to know them better.

Greg also went to his new school. Although he'd rather be with his friends and boyfriend at that moment, that school didn't seem so bad after all. He was approached by a group of popular guys.

"Hello."

"Hi."

"I'm Kade, and these are my best friends, Ryan and George. You?"

"I'm Greg."

"Nice to meet you, Greg. Wanna hang out after school to get to know each other better."

"I can't today, I have plans..."

"By the way you said it... it's with a girl right?"

"No, no... With a friend."

"Oh stop... What's her name?"

"I'm telling you it's with a friend... His name is Rowley."

"Whatever you say.  
"Καλά καλά ό,τι πεις. Αν θες έλα κάτσε μαζί μας στο διάλειμμα."

"Okay, why not?"

After school, Greg went to meet Rowley, just how they had planned it. What he didn't know though, was that the guys he met that day were secretly following him. 

"Oh he wasn't lying, he actually met with his frie– Wait they kissed!"

"They're probably dating."

The three guys started laughing. When they stopped, they went towards Greg and Rowley.

"Hi Greg!"

"Oh hey guys!"

"This must be the Rowley guy you mentioned... Is he your boyfriend?"

"No!"

"But you kissed!"

"What?! No."

"But we saw you!"

"You probably imagined it."

"Ohh okay then, see you."

The three guys left and they were talking.

"Okay we all saw that they kissed."

"Yes!"

Back with Greg and Rowley...

"Greg?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"Are you embarrassed of me?"

"What? Of course not, why do you think that?"

"Well, you didn't tell them about us."

"I was afraid that they were going to be homophobic and judge us."

"Really?"

"Yeah!", Greg reassured him and then hugged him.

The next day, Mary was sitting in school with the girls.

"So Mary, do you have a boyfriend?"

"No."

"Ohh how come?"

"Umm... I have a girlfriend."

"Ohh really?"

"Yes. You don't mind that right?"

"No, no."

"Great."

Meanwhile, Greg was with the guys.

"Hey, when we hang out later bring your boyfriend so we can get to know him better.

"Alright", said Greg, having completely given up on hiding the fact that he's his boyfriend and not his friend.

Time passed, and they got out of the school.

"Is he coming or what?"

"Yeah, he texted me that he's on his way."

"Hey!", said Rowley as he suddenly appeared.

"Hi Rowley!", said Greg, clearly thrilled to see him.

Kade, Ryan and George started looking at each other and then looked at Rowley judgementally.

"Dude do you listen to Joshie?", said Ryan while looking at Rowley's necklace with Joshie's face on it.

"Yeah! Do you?"

"No, but during my free time I watch Thomas and friends.", said Ryan and laughed with the other two.

"YOU TOO?!"

"No!", said Ryan and laughed.

"Ohh... It's okay then."

"Okayyy let's stop now!", said Greg nervously, hoping that his new friends would stop making fun of his boyfriend.

They continued hanging out, and they kept on making fun of him.

"I have to go, but I'm really glad I met you guys.", said Rowley and then left.

"Are you out of your mind? Making fun of him? In his face?", said Greg.

"But really what did you find in him? It's like he's fresh out of preschool! And does it matter? He didn't even notice we were making fun of him."

"But I noticed."

I'll tell you one thing... You are a great guy, and he's an idiot, and when you're with him, he makes you seem that way as well... You deserve better."

"Just stop, okay? You don't even know him.", said Greg and left angrily without even saying goodbye.


	17. Emerged Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! At first I really want to say thank you to the people who gave me feedback on this story. This helps so much, more than you can imagine. Also I want to apologize for the translation errors due to me writing this story originally in Greek and this being a translation. I'll track and correct everything. I think the most prevalent mistake was the name of the main character group, which changed from chapter to chapter. I've finally settled on 'flaming four'. This probably confused you a lot, I'm sorry lol. That's all, I think, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

The next day, Mary was spending some time with her new friends, Reagan, Jessica and Misha. They really got along, to the point that even though she only knew them for a few days, she felt like she was close to them for more than a month.

"Girls I'm going to the library for a bit, okay? I want to find something.", Mary told the girls.

"Okay!", they replied.

Mary left, and when she was far away enough, Jessica pulled a notebook out of her backpack.

"Give it", said Reagan, and Jessica gave it to her.

"Let's add that she's a huge nerd and that she studies even on lunch breaks!", said Reagan and then wrote it on the notebook.

"So until now we have... Fat, autistic, bisexual and nerd!", said Misha and the others laughed, only for their laughter to be interrupted when they all noticed Mary coming back. They closed the notebook and put it back into Jessica's backpack.

"What were you writing?", asked Mary.

"Some exercises.", answered Jessica.

"You know, if you need help you can ask me–", said Mary

"No, I'm good, thank you.", interrupted Jessica.

"Okay, then. Wanna go for lunch?", Mary asked them.

"Yeah, let's go.", replied the girls, and they went and started eating, with the girls staring at Mary, silently judging her for the quantity of food she was eating.

Meanwhile, in Mary's house, in William's and Elinor's office, Elinor was looking at William while they were working. She was reminiscing the times she spent with him before Mary came into the world.

As unbelievable as it seemed, before Mary was born, William wasn't the most responsible person in the world. In fact, he was considered immature by his whole family. With Mary coming into the world though, he was so stressed that he did everything in his power to mature. Elinor remembered the pranks he used to pull when the two of them went in college together. Elinor believed that that part of him was still in there, it just had to be awakened by her.

"William?", she whispered to him.

"What is it, Elinor? We're working now.", William replied to her, without looking away from the screen to look at her.

"Come on, don't you want to take a break?"

"No."

"I'm... going upstairs for a bit."

Elinor went upstairs and started thinking. What if that side of William, that she met and fell in love with, didn't exist anymore? What if the situation truly changed him as a person?

When William first invited his best friend Robert for dinner with his wife, Elinor had no idea that his wife was Linda. She knew that Linda had dumped her for some man, but she didn't know who. At first, the fact that they used to be in a relationship made things really awkward between them, but they ended up deciding not to tell their husbands about any of that, and just start being friends.

But she was thinking about her conversation she had the other day with Linda. She couldn't help but wonder how things would have turned out if she and Linda had never broken up.

The first thing that came into her mind was that Mary wouldn't exist, something she didn't even want to think about, just like any other mother in the world wouldn't. Rowley wouldn't exist either, a kid that Elinor felt was something like her nephew.

However, maybe William would have remained the person who always was. Maybe Linda wouldn't have ended up with someone who didn't care about her.

She thought that what she had with Linda was completely in the past. But, as it seemed, that wasn't the case. She knew that maybe she'd regret that, but she went outside and started going towards Linda's house.

She was lucky enough to find her home alone. Linda invited Elinor in, and made some coffee for the two of them, and they sat on the couch to have a talk.

"How come you came here? Don't you usually have to work at this time?", asked Linda.

"I really needed a break."

"I understand, good of you to do that."

"Yeah... How are things with Robert? Any better?"

"Nah, the usual."

"I see."

That was awkward. Really awkward. Elinor had to get to the point but had no idea how. What if she said no? What would happen then?

"Elinor?"

"Yeah?"

"Something wrong?"

"N-No I was just thinking..."

"What about?"

"What happened the other day... With you and me..."

"Ohh, and?"

"Maybe I shouldn't have rejected you like that...", said Elinor while looking down and rubbing her hands nervously.

"R-Really?"

"Yeah! I think... I think it would be good for both of us... It's not exactly right... But maybe it's not that wrong either!"

"I agree! So are we...?"

"Are we...?"

"Yeah."

The first thing they could do, which came just so naturally to them, like they wanted to do it for years, was to embrace each other tightly, to feel each other closer than ever. They felt their eyes tear up, while they were overflowing with happiness, but not just that, because they were also conquered by fear.

Fear, and guilt. What would happen if someone found out? They had families, that would tear them apart. First of all they thought about Mary and Rowley, they'd be mad at them as well.

Maybe though, it was worth the risk in the name of what they had and didn't fade away. Or emerged again. They weren't sure. What mattered was that they had to be careful, disguise their more frequent hanging outs as platonic company, a break from work to drink some coffee and talk. And they would be okay. No one would suspect a thing.

At the same time, Greg was avoiding the guys for the entire day. He just couldn't accept the fact they made fun of Rowley, in his face, without even getting to know him first.

Later on, while he was walking, he saw them and started walking faster, but they stopped him.

"Wait..."

"What?"

"Look... We're really sorry about what we did...', said Kade.

"Yeah...", said Ryan, "It was just an immature moment but we all feel really bad about it."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Come on, don't be mad now."

"Yeah, alright."

He didn't know if forgiving them was the right thing to do, but they looked honest, so he decided to do it, hoping that they wouldn't do anything similar in the future.


End file.
